NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla. —
The North Palm Beach Rowing Club is suffering a major setback after several of its boats were damaged during last weekend’s storms.
Now, the nonprofit is asking the community for help to get its expensive equipment the protection it needs.
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Strong storms Sunday blew through the North Palm Beach Rowing Club in Juno Beach, taking out thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment.
“When I come here, first time I saw the damage, and in the beginning, I think it's a sabotage or something because that was a disaster,” Emre Cikinci, head coach with NPBRC, said.
Cikinci took a video documenting the damage when he arrived at the rowing club’s headquarters at Bert Winters Park Monday morning.
Boats were scratched, broken with holes in them, and tossed across the grounds.
“That was a heartbreaking moment because some of the boats were brand new. You just use once, and then you see the boats, like $60,000 worth of boat, on the ground with the hole. It's very heartbreaking,” Cikinci said.
Unfortunately, it’s not the first time the not-for-profit rowing club has endured a similar situation.
“Here we go again. This is the third major storm event. We've sustained damage to a number of our boats. The boats are very fragile, very expensive. They're vulnerable to the weather,” Jock Merriam, director and co-founder of NPBRC, said.
Merriam said that is why they have been raising money to construct a boathouse so their boats are protected from the elements.
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But every storm is a potential setback.
“A single boat could cost about $10,000 to $12,000. Large boats go up proportionately. A four might cost $30,000, and an eight might cost $60,000. So, just depends on the boats that are damaged as to how much of an investment that represents. Of course, we depreciate them and we have insurance, but you never come out whole,” Merriam said.
It’s a blow not only to the 60 or so middle and high school kids who train at the club, but also the community that utilizes the club’s resources.
“We provide waterway access for several other nonprofits. We've got Shifting Gears, which is basically for adaptive and veteran kayak rowing. We've got Lighthouse Dragons, which is a breast cancer survivor network,” Lauren Brown, director of rowing for NPBRC, said.
“For all the people that take part in this club, like, we're all kind of a big family. We all love the sport. We love getting on the water. It's, I mean, it's Florida, right? We can go down here year-round. People up north are jealous of us,” Brown said.
The North Palm Beach Rowing Club is about halfway to its fundraising goal for its boathouse. If you would like to donate, click here.
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